Monday, 20 July 2009 9:50 AM
By George Kouroumalis – Photo by Craig Varty
In blustery conditions at Bob Jane Stadium on Sunday, South Melbourne have squandered a host of chances to draw 1-1 at home to Green Gully.
Green Gully had come into the game with the knowledge that the Blues had not beaten the Cavaliers since 2006. The confidence of the away side was evident in the early stages on the game, with an inviting ball into the area swinging into the path of Matthew Sanders at the back post. With Tommi Tomich to beat, Sanders looped a header of the bar, which fell away to safety.
Green Gully continued to threaten the South goal in the early stages and went close again moments later when an Andy Vargas long range attempt went wide of the target.
South responded immediately and launched a series of attacks onto the Green Gully goal, including two attempts by veteran striker Vaughan Coveny, who was brilliantly denied on both occasions by the Green Gully goalkeeper in Steven Tilovski.
South had a final chance before the break when a looping ball by Goran Zoric found Francesco Stella outside the area. With the ball still in the air, the youngster launched a superb volley just wide of the target.
The second half started in a similar manner to the first with Green Gully launching the opening attack of the period. On this occasion, a ball from the left found its way into the area before a series of deflections led to the ball being parried into the path of Andy Vargas. With goalkeeper Tomich on the floor, Vargas slammed home the opening goal of the match.
True to the expectation of a stunned home crowd, South responded almost immediately and were back on level terms in the 56th minute, after a floating ball found it’s way to the unmarked Sebastian Petrovich in the area, who tucked the ball into the back of the net.
Upon equalising, South proceeded in dominating the rest of the game, with Coveny coming close in the 64th minute when his speculative shot from range was cleanly dealt with by Tilovski.
It was only moments later that the veteran thought he had snared the South winner, when a lovely move culminated in youngster Stella producing a sublime bicycle kick to create an inventive attempt on target. In what was a great piece of play, Tilovski produced a sublime save to deny the youngster.
From the resulting rebound off the save, Coveny found himself in space to bury home the tap-in.
In a controversial decision, referee Kevin Docherty signalled back to the centre having awarded the goal. It wasn’t until he saw the assistant referee flag Coveny being in an offside position that he overturned his decision and disallowed the goal, leaving the home fans irate.
South had the final chance of the game when a sublime ball was played into the path of the open Coveny. With the keeper to beat, Coveny hit a low shot onto the target. True to his form over the course of the match, Tilovski made a fantastic low save to ensure his side left Bob Jane Stadium with a point.
